Updated: List of Celebrities Competing on “The Pyramid”
Updated August 14th: The final missing celebrity has been revealed to be Megyn Price, co-star of the CBS program Rules of Engagement. It’s also been announced that the week with the Community co-stars will be chosen as premiere week.
The Pyramid is less than a month away from premiering on GSN (September 3rd at 6PM ET) and we know many fans are clamoring for any morsel of information they can get about the show. So to help whet your appetite, we have the list of celebrities playing across the eight week season one of The Pyramid. Most of these pairings will be seen for a whole week at a time. However, at least one pair may be seen for less than a week because of some of their episodes being replaced due to their poor gameplay alluded to in our big details post. I’m sure the response from some of our readers upon seeing some of these names is going to be “who?” Please keep this in mind: 1) Just because you are not familiar with an actor or a program does not mean some people in the rest of America may not. And 2) No version of Pyramid was ever built on super star power. You could have had a guest role on one sitcom and if you played the game well, you would likely be invited back. Many of these people are great game players. Don’t look for big name drawing power. Look for them to have somewhat familiar faces be good players. With that being said, here is the list of the players with their most notable recent role in parentheses:
Danny Pudi (Abed Nadir on Community)
Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley Bennett on Community)
(These two will be seen on premiere week.)
Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez on The Office)
Megyn Price (Audrey Bingham on Rules of Engagement)
Lamorne Morris (Winston Bishop on New Girl)
Dot Jones (Coach Bieste on Glee)
Jai Rodriguez (Consultant on Queer Eye)
Chandra Wilson (Dr. Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy)
Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergich on Parks and Recreation)
Kate Flannery (Meredith Palmer on The Office)
Nicholas Turturro (Sgt. Renzulli on Blue Bloods)
Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano on The Sopranos)
Joshua Malina (David Rosen on Scandal)
Wallace Langham (David Hodges on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
Melissa Peterman (Host of The Singing Bee)
Samantha Harris (Former co-host of Dancing With the Stars)
Thanks to our friends at Hollywood Junket for help with this story. Most of these people are definitely newcomers to the game, but Melissa Peterman was a frequent guest on the 2002-04 Pyramid and it appears she brought her prowess from that to the new version. We will have to wait and see what new celebrity player standouts arise in September and, conversely, which ones will never come back again. What do you think about the celebrities taking part in this highly anticipated program?
I’m familiar with some of them, but not with others.
That being said, I hope they do well!
I haven’t heard of any other than Melissa Peterman, but that’s cos I barely watch any US television. They sound like they’re from pretty big shows, though, and my sister definitely recognized a few of them.
Didn’t we already see Norm McDonald as a contestant? Or was that the pilot?
That was from the unaired CBS pilot I believe
BIG name stars kinda plagued the Donny Osmond version of Pyramid.
I only care for two of those names on the list: Dot Marie Jones and Melissa Peterman. I had no idea who the other celebrities were.
Can’t say I’m really familiar with any of these besides Samantha Harris, but all that really matters to me is that they play the game well. Though I admit I’m a *little* disappointed that Betty White and Neil Patrick Harris aren’t appearing. I also have mixed feelings about them apparently throwing out entire episodes – it’s good that they value quality gameplay, but I would just air the episodes and then not invite that particular celebrity back. But aside from those nitpicks, I’m really looking forward to this.
Can’t say I’m really familiar with any of these besides Samantha Harris, but all that really matters to me is that they play the game. Though I admit I’m a *little* disappointed that Betty White and Neil Patrick Harris aren’t appearing. I also have mixed feelings about them apparently throwing out entire episodes – it’s good that they value quality gameplay, but I would just air the episodes and then not invite that particular celebrity back. But aside from those nitpicks, I’m really looking forward to this.
With the exception of “The Singing Bee” and maybe “Scandal” (I think that’s a new show, so I’m just not sure of it), all of these shows are primetime network shows. I guarantee people will know Samantha Harris and Chandra Wilson. Good list I say. I WILL say…not seeing some of the faves of the past (Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, Rita Moreno, etc.) is slightly disappointing, but I’m still UBER excited! :D
Scandal is a new primetime show on ABC that premiered last spring to pretty good reviews. It will be back for a full season this fall.
Vicki should come back., if they can get her. She is a mess and would be great to see again (hopefully sparring with the judges).
To be 100% honest…and I hate to admit this because it has much more of an implication than just this show….but I bet Betty, at this point, is simply too old. It was ok 5 years ago on “Million Dollar Password,” but the 90 barrier might’ve been too much, especially for a game that’s ALWAYS been fast-paced like “Pyramid.”
I REALLY would love to see her play!
I dunno, she’s still pretty sharp and in good shape for her age even now. I wouldn’t mind seeing throwback guests from time to time, and not because I wish it was Just Like It Used To Be. But get people who can play the game, first and foremost…don’t Chain Reaction the casting, Mr. Davies!
Now, if Betty did appear on TP, would she be eligible for another decade streak? Did she play on any 70s versions and Davidson?
Get Betty White, and some people from Raising Hope!
Never even heard of these names, mostly because I don’t watch these shows. But I don’t care who’s on or what they did or how famous they are. If they can play the game, that’s all that matters. Pray to God they’re not going to be stupid like Celebrity Hot Potato celebrities.
It’s a good sign if they are putting “bad” celebrities’ episodes into DisContinuity…
Last random comment:
Does this version of “The Pyramid” remind anyone else the MOST of “The $50,000 Pyramid” than any other version?
Obviously, the big tournament and “counting up” clock aren’t there, but the idea of getting 7 out of 7 in the main is a close #2 focus (behind the Winner’s Circle, of course) as opposed to other versions. Obviously, every version’s contestants want a perfect score, but there isn’t a direct win for getting a perfect 7 each go around. The $500 bonus will create a vibe only seen in the $50,000 version. That…plus having no bonuses like the $50k…make it most like that version.
Anyone agree?
I agree with you, it does remind me of The $50,000 Pyramid.
The main problem with The $50,000 Pyramid was a broken tournament format. The player of the week concept was original but when it’s tournament time, it was a train wreck with unnecessary complicated rules.
Also, didn’t The $50,000 Pyramid also have no returning champions?
Yeah, plus as someone once commented, qualifying for the tournament in the front game kind of takes emphasis off the WC (the cheaper grand prizes didn’t help).
Not sure about the returning champion question. As far as TP goes, you never know…if it’s a hit, maybe future seasons will return the champions (like Family Feud eventually did) and might be worth a $50K or $100K tournament some day.
Speaking of which, I had an idea for TP…to give incentive to a contestant who made it to the WC once, shouldn’t they double their potential jackpot for the WC? (Someone who won one game, instead of starting at $10K and $5000 per perfect round, could start with $20K and add $10K per perfect bonus, bringing the top prizes back to the 2009 $25K and $50K) But I know the show is just restarting, so I can see how they’d think small at first.
Glad to see the “reality” stars kept to a minimum. Most players on the list appear on network shows.
You guys really need to get past bringing players from the 80s version on. It’s been nearly 25 years since the Dick Clark versions went off the air. Yes, it would be cool to see Betty White and Vicki Lawrence play…but a lot of the 80s mainstays are either retired or dead. Please stop sounding like the trolls from G-R.net who desperately cling to the past and join the rest of us in the 21st century.
I mean, I loved the 70s and 80s versions of the show as much as the rest of you…and I admit, I probably didn’t like Donnymid as much, simply because it wasn’t Dick’s Pyramid. But it’s a new day and a new Pyramid. Enjoy the elements from the past versions that they have kept, but try to embrace the ways it is different. If you are holding out hope for a “Million Dollar Pyramid”, we need this show to be a hit again. And who knows?…Some of the new players might be pretty darn good at the game…even as good as Betty!
That said…I think it would be kinda cool, since she never appeared on Donnymid, to invite Donny and Marie on to play against each other. Donny has hosted this game in two countries…I’d bet he’d be a good player.
As much as I agree with you most times and for the most part, I don’t think hoping for celebs who are still well known (and, honestly, probably more well known than the celebrities who were chosen) amounts to being stuck in the past.
I, for example, only think Betty and Vicki should play this one. They’re both still around and going strong. Not a bad request. I think those really are the only names people have wanted.
And I think, truly, that most people are ok with the celebs they have. Not clinging to the past, per se. Just saying two known good game players would be fun to watch.
We’re all joining you right in the 21st Century. I couldn’t be more happy to see Winston from “New Girl” on!!!!!!!!
Again I say, seeing as they’re taking talent from Fox, I want to see Raising Hope cast members on the show (that is my favorite Fox Tuesday show, the night which the other programs air on!). RH is kind of a black sheep of the Fox roster, so having its stars on TP might help their show a little too, and vice versa.
I wonder if Melissa McCarthy would be too “over budget” for GSN? I’d love to see her too, if we’re talking sitcoms.
Thanks, Kevin. But I’ve been reading posts from fans who would bring back players like Teresa Ganzel and Henry Polic II. They were great players, but c’mon! It was one thing to have the old gang on the Davidson show…it was just a couple of years after the Clark shows were cancelled. But is anyone really that anxious to see Howard Morton play again? Like I said, I’d love to see Betty and Vicki play again…but we only have 8 weeks of this show to start. Let’s save the Pyramid reunion shows for the second season.
Howard Morton died in 1997!
Oops. Awkward. But thanks for proving my point.
Very, very eloquently put! There was one guy who was saying that Shelley Smith should do “Pyramid” again… and I was thinking 1) She retired from acting in 1991 and has since moved on to other things (e.g. Founder of the Egg Donor Foundation); so she’s pretty much out of the public eye completely, and 2) Nobody from TODAY’S generation would know who she is! I was like… “Come on, dude… Be realistic!” I agree with Myke25 wholeheartedly… People should just “enjoy the elements from the past versions that they have kept, but try to embrace the ways it is different” and stop holding so tight on to what was! This is 2012… not 1984, people… SMH.
I Would love to see some reality shows stars on there like Lou Pizarro from operation repo.
And then there’s THIS guy!
Are you saying Rick Harrison WOULDN’T be a great Pyramid player????????
Can’t say. Maybe. Who is he?
Rumors were thast Jackee Harry (in a mention on her Twitter page) would be involved in a game show this season: might this be it?
The only two names I recognize are Melissa Peterman and Samantha Harris. But, I hope they all do well. “The Pyramid” is a great game. But, it also needs good players or it starts getting frustrating.
As for the comparison to “The $50,000 Pyramid”, I agree. There’s more emphasis on the front game. The only reason that scares me is because…and this is only a guess at this point…I think contestants might sacrifice points by going for perfect scores. In other words, they may stick with an answer (instead of passing it) in order to get a perfect score…and, in doing so, might sacrifice points you could have gotten if you had just passed it.
As for bringing back players from the 70′s and 80′s…yes…yes…and, yes!!!
I know that many of them are retired, and that’s fine. But, I know that Vicki Lawrence is still doing stuff. And, as for Betty White, she’s doing a lot of things at 90 that most people stop doing at 50. So, to say that she’s passed her prime to me is hogwash. Yes, she’s slower…she’s 90…I get it. But, this isn’t football! You don’t need to be at 100% physically to play the game. She’s still very sharp, and I think she’d be GREAT at it!
I might get to see Vicki in Rahway in November!
I think so long as someone emphasizes that they can go back to words if they get stuck under this format, the situation you describe may not happen.
I hope you’re right, James. But, even in Donny Osmond’s “Pyramid”, they still took several seconds longer than they should have before passing (which was allowed in that version, as well). Hence, they hardly had any time to come back to it…if at all.
I recognize Nicholas Turturro, Joshua Molina, and Wallace Langham, and I watch little TV. My wishes remain the same: competent, excited celebrities, regardless of if A, B, or C list. It’s not important to me if the show doesn’t bring back past celebrities (although a few would be nostalgic, like Jason Alexander), but Osmond’s show brought back some of the past celebrities a decade later, and if memory serves me correctly, Betty White was one of the test pilot show celebrities 2(?) years ago for Pyramid in LA.
Good Choice of HIP/current celebs.
Lingofan97 on the GSN forums is a post-whore who doesn’t give credit to Buzzerblog.
She posts just to post and is ruining the credibility of the GSN forums, whatever they had.
She really is a postwhore, not to mention other things that I won’t get into here.
*Rick Pitino Voice* “David Graf is not walking though that door! Earl Holliman and Nathan Cook are NOT walking through that door!”
Seriously though, I like this group of celebs. I think the Turturro’s played Donnymid.
Oscar Nunez ,Chandra Wilson, Danny Pudi ,Yvette Nicole Brown (love, LOVE “Community”)
Jim O’Heir (double LOVE Parks and Recreation),Kate Flannery ,Nicholas Turturro,
Aida Turturro ,Joshua Malina ,Wallace Langham ,Melissa Peterman should be great and are on the same level, if not better than the celebs on the 80s Pyramid.
Look at who we’ve seen on the 80s Pyramid.- Danny Breen, Mitchell Lawrence, Cyndy Garvey, that dude from the “Micro Machines” commercials that could talk super fast. Not the greatest array of star power/game players. If it gets more episodes I’d like to see Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy), anyone from True Blood, Kristen Schaal, Mo Collins, CCH Pounder, Anthony Denison play.
The “Micro Machines” guy would be John Moschitta.
You’d think they’d try to get Billy Crystal on.
At least they didn’t ask William Shatner, thank goodness…
But we would miss moments like Shatner tearing up the chair in angst (yes, he actually has won in the Winners’ Circle before) and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KpzSkuTZa0
Honestly, at times I could swear there was a portal from the back of the Pyramid to the Not Necessarily the News WInnebago. They were on the show all the time, even though the show wasn’t really that popular.
How about Adam Richman from Man vs Food. You could call it Man vs Pyramid!
Seriously, just get good players & stay away from the Cloris Leachmans. FYI Cloris Leachman was a well known film actress, but bombed on the original $10,000 Pyramid. Some of her credits include the Mel Brooks movies “Blazing Saddles” 1974, “Young Frankenstein” 1974 & “High Anxiety” 1977.
Don’t forget “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” which I’d assume she was probably mostly known for during the “$10,000 Pyramid.” But maybe not.
How about Anthony Bourdain? I’m sure he’d have NO RESERVATIONS about doing Pyramid :P
I think the summary of the above is:
1. We like nostalgia, and a show that started several decades ago will draw up good memories from the past and want to hearken back to them (i.e., desire to want old celebrites back).
2. It isn’t like the Osmond show didn’t bring back Clark/Davidson celebrities, and age is not an automatic disqualifier. Betty White being part of the Los Angeles pilot 2? yeas ago, and Jason Alexander/Neil Patrick Harris would be two interesting ones if they somehow could lure them.
3. However, I think that nobody wants the old celebrities back if it means it will hinder the new show in any way.
4. Considering there aren’t A list celebrities that come to mind from the Clark era in the 80′s that I can recall, as I said above, enthusiasm and skill playing from celebs are all that’s needed.
5. The bad games probably aren’t fatal, but I would think the more established a show is, the less likely it would hurt (?). I like Tom Poston (RIP), but this is more “acceptable”(?) for an established show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFyVrGOsVEg
Of course, I figure it will only be hours before someone proves me wrong on this. I’m certainly willing to give the new celebs a chance (if I had to watch one week, it’d be Molina vs. Langham).
As long as there are no Kardashians or William Shatner.
(I think he’s banned from game shows after MD Password.)
I want to see him play the Winner’s Circle with himself again.
What did he do to get himself banned from game shows following Million-Dollar Password?
Not *literally* banned, but his turn on Million-Dollar Password was HORRIBLE.
This list looks promising. Guys, I hate to say this but I doubt GSN has the budget to get Betty White. Vicki Lawrence, *maybe*, but probably not Betty White.
Honestly, I think it would actually be cool to see Donny Osmond play. (runs for cover)
I wouldn’t mind seeing Osmond play. I didn’t like the show as much with him, but I certainly didn’t dislike it either.
Betty White was a close friend of Password and Pyramid creator Bob Stewart since the 1950s. I don’t think money would be the deal-breaker for her.
I’m sure that a new crop of good playing celebrities will pop up. Think about it this way…Kelly Packard was great on Donny Osmond’s “Pyramid”. So, I’m sure we’ll see a new great player emerge.
Agreed, someone will rise up to shine: Kelly Packard memories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhdnBsC0l84
I’m looking forward to this, certainly, but this stuck out considerably:
“However, at least one pair may be seen for less than a week because of some of their episodes being replaced due to their poor gameplay alluded to in our big details post. ”
Why? “Oh, they sucked, we can’t show poor gameplay.” Suck it up, Nancy. If the prior versions retaped episodes with poor gameplay, we wouldn’t have near as many trainwreck moments. And half the Osmond version wouldn’t exist.
Besides all that, it comes across as “Hey, listen, I really sucked; if I pay you enough, think you can make them…disappear?”
Even then, it reeks of not wanting to make people look bad. You have bad days, you suck it up, admit your faults, and move on. Poor gameplay proves that your show has good players and bad ones; ousting the poor gameplay solely for being poor gives off the impression that there’s no such thing…especially to potential contestants, should it be renewed.
(Although I doubt “poor gameplay” applies to contestants.)
I’m surprised not a single game show host, announcer or model was on the show. I doubt they would be over-budget for GSN, and they would certainly do good with the clues and add comedy to the show.
…did you miss when I said the last week was Melissa Peterman and Samantha Harris?
i would love to see celebrities that played pn dick clark’s versions of the pyramid be invited to play this new version- vicki lawrence; adrienne barbeau; billy crystal; jo anne worley. lets see if the players that played during the 1970′s and 1980′s still got it :)
I would love to see Crystal finish the Winner’s Circle a lot faster than he did years ago.
I just have one request: No Palins. No Sarah, No Bristol, No blood relatives. No one who has dated a Palin. No one who has ever served a meal to a Palin.
You get the idea.
One other thought. Are any of these celebrities former contestants? Mel Harris, Constance McCashin, Paul Feig, and David Graf were all contestants, and Mel, Constance, and David I know showed up as celebrities later. That might be another way to get celebrities, but I don’t know if any present celebrities appeared on Pryamid as contestants (like on the Osmond version).